At the ObamaCare Improv

The ad hoc business mandate delay is a bid to save the exchanges.

Feb. 14, 2014 6:46 p.m. ET

President Obama predicted at the House Democratic retreat on Friday that "10 years from now, five years from now" people will look back on the Affordable Care Act as "a monumental achievement." He's right in the limited sense that, given the delays he has sanctioned so far, it will take years before anyone can tell if it works.

Now that we've had more time to parse this week's announcement of a second delay of the employer mandate, the political reason for the carve-out is becoming clearer. Far from the...